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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Magnolia Jane Vikilizgani

I just thought I’d resurrect this ole blog to document the birth of our third daughter! (I dont want her to think someday that we left her out!) So here is her birth story I wrote up a few days after she was born.


Magnolia Jane Vikilizgani Simwaka is here!

She was born around 7:15 pm on November 14th. She weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and she was 20 1/4 inches long.
We came in at 3 pm to be induced and on the way I looked up more info about inductions and suddenly got very nervous about it. It just seemed like it was a little risky. But I texted a friend who had an induction without any medical reason to do so and she really helped calm me down.
When the nurse checked me, she said I was 4 cm dilated and she thought the induction would go fast. Soon after that I started to have some regular mild contractions. She said it may have started because she checked me and released some hormones. But they were still far apart. Soon they were fairly close together though. Dr. Marter was the one on call and he came in pretty soon after that. He checked me again and both he and the nurse (Jen) saw that my contractions were fairly regular. It looks like I really did go into labor. Still, he ordered that I get a small amount of pitocin after they gave me a dose of the antibiotic for group B strep. He asked if I had any questions and so I asked if it was okay I’d I eventually got the epidural. He said that he would always recommend it to first time moms but that subsequent pregnancies are faster and that epidurals carry some small risks. So he thought I didn’t need it but he said it was up to me since I was the only one who would be experiencing the pain. I didn’t want to look like a wimp but as soon as he left I asked the nurses and they said of course I could get it. Jen said she didn’t even know why he gave that little speech.
Still I figured I had a ways to go so I’d just wait awhile. Kwacha and I tried to find something on the TV but the only thing we were interested in was an old black and white movie on TCM. We both thought we recognized the main actor and so we spent most of the time trying to look up who he was. By the time we figured it out, we realized we had never seen him in anything and we hadn’t paid attention to the movie at all really and had no idea what was going on. So we changed it to Harry Potter and watched a bit of that.
By now my contractions were starting to feel pretty intense. Nurse Jen asked when i might want the epidural and I said maybe in about 10 minutes. She said the anesthesiologist could be there in 5-30 minutes. But about 5 minutes later I said I ‘d go ahead and get it whenever it was available. (I️ don’t know why i always delay!) She said I just needed to finish an IV bag first so she found a little bag to put on it which would open it up more so it would go faster.
Thankfully it went fast and the anesthesiologist was there quickly and he started getting the epidural ready. Nurse Jen (who turned out to be Kwacha’s age, which is only 42) kept saying how young he looked! He turned out to be my age. My contractions were really intense at that point and I had about four of them while he was putting in the epidural. It definitely hurt worse then when I got one with Shirley.
He told me that he wasn’t giving me a strong one to start out but that I could ask them to increase it as long as it was before I had to push. Thankfully it started working pretty quickly and when Jen checked me I was at a 6-7. She told me I had gotten it just in time!
Dr. Marter came in at some point and said that he was expecting a 9:00 pm delivery. That may have been before I got the epidural. I can’t remember.
Mom and Emily came in soon after that to say hi and see how things were going. Emily missed seeing me in a contraction again! They said they were going to get dinner to go and come right back since I still had awhile to go. It may have been about 6:45 or 6:50 at that point.
Well right after they left, Dr. Marter and Jen and another nurse came in. Someone must have checked me because my blood pressure was going down. They said I was at 10 already! Things were kind of a blur but it seemed like 6 or 8 more nurses came in at that point. One nurse in particular was pretty intense. Next thing I know someone put an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth! And Dr. Marter said it was time to deliver the baby!
They set up some high stirrup things for my legs. Kwacha held one leg and the intense nurse held the other. Dr. Marter sat down looking like he was about to catch a football pass. Thankfully they took the oxygen mask off and I started to push. My water broke pretty quickly and it was like a flood being let out of a floodgate. I️ could see it spray up! The epidural had definitely worn off! I felt the ring of fire and was pushing with all my might. It took about 3-5 pushes for Magnolia’s head to come out and then everyone commented how much hair she had! Then one push more and out came her body. I definitely felt the relief!
She cried a little bit but not much which made me a little nervous. A nurse took her and rubbed her and told her to cry some more and she finally did. I really noticed the cord this time! It was really blue and thick. Dr. Marter had Kwacha pass Magnolia to him. She was covered in vernix and Kwacha thought it was a bit gross. He handed her to Dr. Marter and then he had Kwacha cut her cord.
He laid her back down on top of me and I was surprised at how calm she was. She wasn’t crying that much and she kept trying to open her eyes. She finally did and she just stared at my blinking for awhile. She was so cute, I felt a wave of love for her immediately. I noticed right away that she had a dimple in her chin. She stayed on me like that for a whole hour before they even weighed her. It was heaven. ☺️

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